Having spent a little time with my Noblet by Joseph Peterson, I absolutely love it. There are a couple things that are a bit odd, like some cards seem lighter colored than others, and I don't fully understand the reason for "corrections" to the World card. Neither of those is a problem (I just use the original card). It has a plasticy smell. It isn't overwhelming, but I still tried to air the cards out a bit.

I like the stiffness of the cards, and the surface texture is wonderful. I don't have many other decks to compare to, however it is the best feel of the ones I have. I wasn't sure how riffle shuffling would work out with the corners, so I have tried it a few times and it seems to work just fine. I am careful, as I have seen recommended in other threads, and I never bridge any deck I shuffle. They don't easily fall into place after the shuffle, so I have adapted how I handle them, tapping them on one end when held vertically instead of shoving them together. It is such a nice deck to handle.

I went through the O'Neill articles to get a bit of info on the development of the pictures on the cards. Some really interesting things to think about in those articles. I learned that the "smudge" on 13 is probably intentional, and that Death and other depictions of things did not start out as we often see them now. I see so much additional history in just this card, and now have mental notes of the mindset and environment leading to the pictures on these cards when looking at them. Good stuff.

I was a bit concerned at how dark the blue and green were, thinking that it might make it difficult to differentiate them. Even in a dimly lit room this is not a problem. The pictures look great in their slightly cleaned up state. I don't feel anything major has been lost in the color shift mentioned earlier. Looking at the back, they all are pretty identical. You might be able to tell if the cards are reversed if you pay attention and are into that sort of thing. Something I really appreciate are what appear to be dirty fingerprints close to the edges (look near the center at the top and the lower right corner for the most obvious ones).

I love the Flornoy Noblet, but my main motive for this new deck was I wanted a card stock that was easier to handle. When I was developing these, I had sample decks printed on all 6 of the card stocks available (except plastic), and after several months of use, this one (330gsm superior smooth) seemed far superior. I'm very happy to hear others like it too.
Here is how card 13 looks compared with the museum photo: http://esotericarchives.com/tarot/la_mort.PNG

Interesting, that everyone seems to have missed Petersen's post in this thread...

Serendipitously, I found this deck today, or it found me. I look forward to actually holding it in my hands, as the combination of those earthy tones and 330gsm superior smooth cardstock seem more appealing to me that Flornoy's beautiful restoration (which I already had and let go).

I'm confused about the Noblet we are talking about on the Hermit's Lamp site. Are we saying this is a version that has corrected cards, or another printing not by Flornoy? The only Noblet I see on the site is the Flornoy restoration. A related question is there is a 2014 printing (which is what is pictured in their description)--what difference is there between this and the original (2007?) printing of the Flornoy Noblet?

[...] .

I would love the know the difference between the 2007 and the 2014 edition as well. I have the latter. Thanks in advance!

Thanks, Philippe, for the pictures above and your impressions of Peterson's Noblet. The facsimile reproductions have so much more character than the sanitized, redrawn 'reproductions' that are widely available. We are so fortunate to live in this time when there are so many choices available for the traditionally illustrated Marseille tarot decks.

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